Feeding frenzy

The animals get fed around 5:30 this time of year. We feed them before it gets dark. Animals get paranoid after dark. We spoil our chickens by warming up some frozen corn and hand feeding them. One result of this spoilage is that all the chickens come running whenever we go to the barnyard. This helps us take inventory and aids in their capture should such a thing be needed. The adult goats get goat feed, about a pound each. I also put out about a half bale of coastal hay as theirs was nearly gone.

Kristi fed the little orphan goat. We won't name it because that makes it more difficult around butchering time. It is taking about 12oz at a time now. It takes about 20 minutes to get 12 oz into him. We have to do this for at least another week and a half.
Barbecue followed us into the barn. Since the birthing, Barbecue has been in ill-favor with the mama goats. If Barbecue comes into the barn the main mama goat will chase her down and butt her hard. Barbecue is a smart dog and takes the hint. She stays outside until we emerge.

The main mama goat is a good mother. She keeps her little babies spotlessly clean and guards them ferociously. Luckily I had spent a lot of time gaining the goats trust since we moved in and they will let me handle the babies. Our auxillary back up goat is a somewhat lesser mother. The little kids have very messy, poopy rear ends. It's mom's job to keep them clean. I'll concede here that if my primary cleaning tool were my tongue, I might also slack.

We bought 10 Plymouth Barred Rock chicks last weekend. They are growing like crazy. We feed them 20 percent protein chick starter crumbles. They get about 3/4 lb per day. No matter what we do with their water they get pine bark in it. I have the brooder inside a chicken coop that the regular chickens won't use. They all roost up in the barn's rafters. Since there's no danger I opened the lid of the brooder and set up another heat lamp outside the box. Now they can get out into the main chicken coop if they want to. So far I haven't seen one get out.